Cartridge-tube filler



S, PAULSDN.

CARTRIDGE T'UBE FILLER.

APPLICATION man JULY 31.4919.

Patented May 18, 1920.

i l l l .Br Tram f' HG.Z his A Er rr san' rainer Fril srvIL rAUIisoN, or sr. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

CARTRIDGE-TUBE FILLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 18, 1920.

Application filed July 31, 1919. Serial No. 314,519.'

the following is a specication. 'i

This invention relates to means for loading the magazines of small fire arms, especially such as are used in shooting galleries. In said places it is customary to speed theA loading of the magazines by keeping one or more special tubes filled with cartridges, and empty one of them at a time into the magazine of the gun; but such special or conveying tubes have heretofore been filled by hand, which is too slow a process when the shooting gallery has a great number of visJ itors desiring to practise shooting. To overcome this and to economize on hired help toy keep the tubes lled, I provide a device for lling the tubes Very quickly. Said devicev and its operation is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the filling device with some cartrid es in it and a tube in position to be filled. iig. 2 is a top view of the front portion of Fio. 1. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3--3 in 4ig. 2. Fig. 4 1s a modication of the lower portion of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a bottom end view of the tube 14 in Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is Fig. 5 modified, ora view of the upper end of the tube 14 in Fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a side view of a portion of a with the magazine. filling tube in position to fill the magazine.

Referring to the drawing by reference numerals, 8 designates the barrel, 9 the tubular magazine and 10 the slidable handle by which the breech mechanism of the gun is operated so as to eject the empty cartridges and move other cartridges into position for firing. Said mechanism and the usual spring-pressed rod 11 for chasing the cartridges from ,a tube 12 toward the breech of the gun, and the operation of said parts, are so well known that I need not here further describe the same.

As already stated, under ordinary circumstances the cartridges are inserted one by one into the magazine 9 through a side aperture 13, (which aperture in that case is much smaller than the one I have shown) and in some cases said aperture is enlarged and a tube 14 employed for conveying a charge of cartridges into the magazine, the tube being first charged with say ten to thirty cartridges and then placed at the aperture and turned ybottom upward. Said tube may have its bottom formed either of a cross bar 15, as in Figs. 6 and 7, or it may be formed of a side portion, 15", of the tube, cut loose as at 16 in Fig. 1 and pressed inward as shown in Fig. 5. In either case the bottom is skeletoned so as to admit air freely into the tube and thereby allow the cartridges to drop out quickly.

The device by which I lill such tubes vcomprises a hopper 17 of oblong form and almost V-shaped in cross section, and having Y its narrow bottom, 18, provided with a longitudinal slot, 19, for the cartridges 20 to hang down through, with their rims 21 riding on the adjacent edges of the bottom or its slot.

The ends 22 of the hopper may stand about vertical and one of them is provided with holes for screws 23 by which the hopper may be secured to awall or similar object, 24.

The outer or front end of the Vhopper is provided with an aperture 25 (see Fig. 3) for the rim of each cartridge to escape through; and close below said aperture or notch the bottom 18 extends, as 18a, beyond the hopper and has its slot 19 enlarged at 19a (see Figs. 2 and 3), for the escape of the rims 21 of the cartridges as they drop downward into a short sleeve 26, which is fixed below the part 18a and has a rearward groove forming an incline 27, by which to aid the lower end of each cartridge into the sleeve and prevent both the point and the rim of the cartridge from catching upon the bottom edge of the inlet through which it entered the tube, said groove forming an inclined chute open rearwardly near its top. The opposite side of the sleeve is provided with a guard 19b to guide the cartridge rims down into the sleeve.

Secured with their upper ends to opposite sides of the sleeve are two depending sprin arms, 28, each of which has at its` lower en a hook 29 with an inclined face 30, which normally projects through an aperture 31 in the sleeve, so it may be engaged either inside or outside the sleeve. The lower cartridge in the sleeve is normally held by said hooks either in the position shown in Fig. 3 or that in Fig. 4.

In the operation of the device a supply of cartridges is placed in the hopper and tubes like 14 are one at a time placed in telescoping position to the lower end of the sleeve, either within the sleeve, as in Figs. 1 and 3, or outside the sleeve, as in Fig. 4, and as the tube is pushed upwardly until it stops against a shoulder, 26a (see Fig. 1), its upper end engages the inclined faces 3() and spreads the hooks 29 so that the cartridges, which are being stirred forward in the hopper by one hand, while the tube 14 is held in the other hand, iill the tube almost in an instant. As the filled tube is lowered and removed the spring arms 28 will automatically close the hooks 29 suiiiciently to prevent escape of cartridges from the sleeve until the next tube, 14, is placed in position and thereby auto- -matically spreads the hooks.

After the operator has thus iilled a number of tubes suiiioient to last for a day or so, or until he may have leisure time to use for filling more of them, he needs only to invert one of said tubes and thus fill an magazine, 9, in an instant. All he has to o is to pull upward at the head 12a so as to pull the spring-containing 4tube 12 and springpressed rod 11 out of the way from the inlet 13 during the moment he empties the tube 14, and then push the tube 12 home again and turn it with the pin 12b into the notch 12c of the magazine tube 9.

What I claim is A device of the kind described, the same comprising a hopper with a narrow bottom projecting partly beyond the hopper and having a longitudinal slot for cartridges to drop through and be suspended by their rims upon the edges of the bottom; said projecting portion of the bottom having the slot enlarged so as to let the rims of the cartridge pass through it, a sleeve fixed in vertica position underneath said projecting end of the bottom and having two opposite side apertures, two spring arms fixed on the sleeve and having hooks entering said apertures and provided with'inelined faces, a series of cartridge conveying tubes having Veach one end closed and the other end adapted to telescope with the lower end of the sleeve and spread the hooks by engaging their inclined faces, said spring arms adapted to automatically close the hooks into contact with the lowest cartridge in the sleeve i and thereb prevent unwarranted esca of the cartri ges from the sleeve, said s eeve having its upper end rovided with an enlargement toward the opper, said enlargement havin in its u per portion an inlet notch for t e cartr ges and below said notch an inclined groove serving to guide the cartridges into the sleeve Without allowing them to catch on the notched part of the sleeve.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

SIVIL PAULSON. 

